Glamour magazine is to stop publishing a monthly print edition as it turns its focus to digital and becoming the “ultimate online beauty destination” for the UK, owners Conde Nast announced today.
The popular women’s fashion magazine will now only appear in print twice a year. Conde Nast said these collectible, glossy issues would be the “ultimate beauty bible and style guide for the coming season”.
The move to a “mobile-first, social-first strategy” is said to be a response to “the way in which the Glamour reader is living their life today, ensuring continued success across multiple platforms”.
As a result of the changes a number of editorial and publishing staff are understood to be facing redundancy.
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The move to digital comes after Glamour relaunched its website late last year to make it mobile-first and offer a dedicated video section.
The most recent ABC figures for Glamour, from June, put its average circulation at 275,536 – down from 544,653 ten years ago. Figures for December put the magazine’s circulation down 25 per cent year-on-year.
The final monthly issue of Glamour will be December.
Albert Read, managing director of Conde Nast Britain, said: “Today’s Glamour consumer moves to a different rhythm than the one who bought the magazine when it launched in 2001. It is a faster, more focused, multi-platform relationship.
“The quality of ideas, vision and execution remain central, but the way in which it is delivered must change fundamentally with Glamour’s new mix of digital, social, video, live and print, and its focus on beauty.”
Simon Gresham Jones, chief digital officer of Conde Nast Britain, said: “Glamour’s authority across print, digital and social provides a powerful foundation for this transformation and future growth.
Publishing director Camilla Newman added: “I’m hugely excited to be leading this transformation of Glamour into a multiplatform mobile first brand, with social and events at its heart.
“There is enormous potential for us to grow within this untapped space, and to partner with brands who want innovative digital and live solutions.”
Glamour.com will become a “beauty hub for today’s consumer”, according to a spokesperson, with a new-look for the website expected to debut in early 2018.
The greater focus on beauty content seems to be guided by web figures, with beauty content said to be the leading traffic generator on the Glamour website, the spokesperson said.
Conde Nast also announced that the magazine’s editorial and commercial departments will be “fully integrated, offering our partners access to the whole team, with a unified and cohesive structure creating content for brands and editorial alike”.
Glamour dropped its cover price from £2 to £1 at the start of 2017.
In a blog post today, Glamour said: “Our new digital first strategy for the new year will have our customer – and our reader – at front and centre more than ever.
“From the latest products for the beauty obsessed; to catwalk and street style trends and how they translate to real life; to interviews with the world’s most talented beauty experts; to our fabulous Beauty Festival which will get bigger and better across every platform; and a raft of additional events, Glamour will provide beauty in every aspect of life.
“All this expertise and industry leadership will be celebrated in a biannual, collectible, glossy tome that will answer your every beauty desire. Boasting contributing editors from the forefront of every creative field, the new Glamour will be every beauty dream come true: iconic; topical; engaging; inspiring.”
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